It’s now been officially unofficially confirmed by the Associated Press that Osama bin-Laden was shot twice by U.S. Navy SEALs in the actions of May 1st, 2011. Once in the chest, and once just above the left eye. Why the chest and eye? Because it works, that’s why … So, what exactly happens when you get shot in the head?

WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES OF DEATH AND GORE

Pictures of the raid on Osama’s Pakistani compound have been released – Reuters has obtained images of three unidentified males killed during the action, two appear to have died as a result of headshots, the third looks to have taken lead to the chest.

Citing the likelihood that it would incite violence, and be exploited as a propaganda tool by al-Qaeda, President Obama made the executive decision to withhold the death photo of Osama bin-Laden himself. In his own words; “we don’t need to spike the football.” Personally, I’d like the old head on a pike approach..

The two men above appear to have been killed by shots to the ear, and just below the lower lip. Depending on the angle of the shooter, strikes in both of these locations result in almost instantaneous flaccid-paralysis as they are likely to destroy both the Medulla Oblongata (yes; the very same organ made oh-so-famous by “Col. Sanders” in The Waterboy) and severely damage if not destroy the upper Central Nervous System / brain stem.

This hit-area is referred to as the “T-zone,” and can roughly be described as a “T” formed between the outer rims of the eye sockets, and the base of the lower lip. – Penetration at a head-on angle nearly guarantees instant incapacitation and death.

Headshots are ‘effing hard to accomplish. Even if you hit the target in the head, there’s a significant chance that the curved structure of the skull will deflect the bullet – even if only slightly.

Center of mass is usually the name of the game for most civilian shooters, law enforcement personnel, and soldiers. Why would you aim for the head? The target may be wearing body armor, they may be holding a hostage, they may have a weapon, or you might just be that bad-ass (here’s looking at you, U.S. Navy SEALs).

It takes thousands upon countless thousands of rounds expended to become proficient enough to aim for a moving target the size of an apricot and reliably expect to hit it (even at point blank range). Let’s not forget – that apricot is attached to something that’s probably shooting at you, making the task even more daunting. The professional marksmanship shown above is a testament to the skill of those men who were called in to do the deed. Thanks guys – you kicked ass.

When it absolutely must be killed instantly, destroy the brainstem – “shot, stopped, and dropped.”

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44 COMMENTS

  2. Those poor bastards didnt even see it coming. I wonder if the blackhawks were laying down the “chaingun cha cha” while the action was going on inside? If I was the President I would have ordered his head and would have had it in a ziplock bag during the speech.

    nothing like a severed head to say “dont mess with us” plus the proof the world needs to know the U.S. F’n A does what it says. Heres a major thank you to those nameless Heroes!

    • If I was the President I would have ordered his head and would have had it in a ziplock bag during the speech.

      I reckon you would also have the dissidents crucified or impaled, right?

  3. One other reason for a headshot: they may be wearing an explosive vest. You don’t want them detonating it with their last breath. An accurate headshot takes away that ability.

  4. Um, call me crazy but in the second photo, that certainly looks like a squirt gun (Super Soaker?) under the deceased’s right shoulder. Maybe a Nerf gun? W_T_F?

    • You’re correct – in another angle, you can clearly see a toy gun underneath dead-bad-guy.

      Mind you; they have reported that in addition to Osama’s wife, his 12 year-old son was also in the room at the time of his.. ventilation. Maybe it belonged to him?

      • I’ve always wondered, if it’s true that fundamentalist Muslims really believe that they won’t get into Paradise if they’ve touched anything from a pig, why our guys don’t carry around SuperSoakers (in addition to their regular arms) filled with a cocktail of pig’s blood, pig’s urine, and whatever. Let word get around that you’ll be soaked with that before dying. See what happens.

        It’s high time we stopped tying our guys hands, and cut out all this “politically-correct,” “sensitivity” bullshit, and start prosecuting them with extreme prejudice.

        • I heard that was done in Turkey. They would squirt jihadist with pigs grease and the guy would just stop what he was doing because he knew he wouldn’t go to paradise. This is hearsay and couldn’t confirm though.

          • Historically I beleive it was also used on Africans with the same belief. I think it was the British who told them that there powder charges for their muskets were coated with pig grease to keep it dry. They surrendered or some such. I will have to look it up.

        • These pictures have dead people in it humiliating them by such remarks makes you worse then them. These people are not muslims even if you pour pig blood or urine or whatever it will not make a difference cuz they are not justified for killing innocent people and will probably not enter wat u call paradise.
          Your comments are offensive as they target muslims and once again these are not muslims, these people have been killing countless Pakistanis cuz they helped America which you would not know cuz your media does not cover that. Islam does not permit killing innocent people, they throw several bombs and shoot people in Pakistan killing several muslims. Why is it that people of Pakistan are not only targeted by such people but are stuck between a war and and being ripped apart by media and why are muslims being bad named when these people are not muslim in any aspect.

          • Showing their pictures does not humiliate them.

            I agree: making comments about horrible things that should have been done to them or Osama is wrong. I understand the sentiment, and realize that if my relatives were killed in the 911 attack I’d probably feel the same way. The desire for vengeance is strong and not very pretty. But there it is.

            IMHO the SEALs did exactly the right thing: execute the bad guys on the spot. They also followed proper Muslim protocol, treating Bin Laden’s body with respect. Again, I approve. Our enemies should not see us as the butchers that they are. Because we aren’t. As the SEALs proved.

            As for making a distinction between “good” and “bad” Muslims, I’ll leave that to greater minds than mine. But to say that they were not Muslims at all is flat-out wrong. In the same sense that the torturers of the Spanish Inquisition were Catholics, there’s no hiding from the fact the OBL and his followers are Muslim. Well, were. Praise Allah.

          • “Islam does not permit killing innocent people, they throw several bombs and shoot people in Pakistan killing several muslims.”

            BS.
            Taqqiya- Allah is the greatest deciever. Muhammed lied and Arafat used that as a justification to lie to Bill and Rabin at the White House.
            Yes, they do love to kill each other. In fact after they kill the Jews on Saturday, the Christians on Sunday, and the blacks and asians the rest of the week they will kill each other. There is some peace on Earth.

          • Mukhtar, a couple of thoughts on your comments…

            When so-called “peaceful” Muslims in the USA start standing up and denouncing the actions of the fundamentalists/radical Muslims, renounce terror for ANY reason, and condemn the actions of Al Queda, Hammas, the Taliban, et cetera, THEN I will begin worrying about offending Muslims. To turn your argument around, when Muslims publish articles equating Jews with monkeys and dogs, and murdering both Christians and Jews because they were offended by some cartoons in a newspaper, I feel very little sympathy for the Muslim world. You say “Islam does not permit killing innocent people.” I beg to differ. Islam is all over the map about many things – it’s apparently not okay to lie, but if you’re doing it to promote Islam, it’s okay. You can’t kill, but if you’ve declared a jihad, everything’s on the table.

            Here’s the bottom line: the radical, fundamentalist Muslims (those that follow the Wahhabi sect and other radical interpretations of the Koran) want to turn the world into a single, world-wide Caliphate. Anyone or anything that stands in their way is the enemy. Within Islam, the Sunnis and Shias want to kill each other. Every nation and every human being on this planet will eventually be forced to pick a side. That’s not OUR goal. It’s theirs. And until we all realize this, we’re in for more terror. If Pakistan wants to get out of this war, the people of Pakistan need to stop harboring terrorists and demand that the government stop enabling them, looking the other way, or allowing them to live there. It is THAT SIMPLE. If they continue to allow terrorists to camp out within their borders, they can count on more war, more destruction, and more lives lost. And when they start standing up to the ‘bad Muslims’ and denounce them (instead of supporting them), then (and only then) can they be considered to be on the side of the good guys in this fight.

  5. Sorry, but whoever believes this tripe about Osama, I have beautiful Ocean Front property just outside Phoenix that I want to sell.

    • Give it a rest. There are ONLY two possibilities. 1. He’s dead; or 2. They captured him alive and he is in some dungeon under “Langley” and will be interrogated for a couple of years and disappear. This is really something you can’t fake (i.e. a capture or kill.) Most likely it’s #1. Kinda hard to keep a secret like that….

  6. So, of the four people killed in the operation, we have pics of three but not the fourth. Who are we kidding? I can’t believe we agonize over shit like this.

    • the photos we have are from Pakistani sources. none of these were released by the us. Since osama’s body was gone with the seals , the paki’s couldn’t take photo’s of it.

  7. Daniel, your statement; “An accurate headshot takes away that ability.” Personally, I wouldn’t count on it. Reflexes and nervous reactions are not altogether predictable, nor is what happens when said subject of the head shot (and/or medulla oblongata shot) hits the ground. I’d be very surprised if there was sufficient good, statistically valid data to draw such a conclusion for such a scenario, ie, the suicide bomber/murderer with the “dead man switch”. They don’t call it a dead man switch for nothin’ you know.

    Robert, I noticed that you withdrew the piece on the “assaulter” statement from the White House in regards to Seal Team Six (DevGru). I guess that you realized that you were being a little too hyper-sensitive to the whole “Word Game” (Stephen Stills) thing. Yah, as much as anything else, we are fighting a word game. Clips/mags, assault weapons/patrol rifles/EBR’s/sport-utility-rifles, children/sociopaths>15years-old, etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum. It is a word game but one has to pick their battles carefully. That said, I rather like the term Berserker over assaulter. GO NAVY, and a job well done. BTW, I just heard that the White House isn’t going to allow the release of the post mortem photos of OBL. Bummer.

    • Thank you for pointing that out Greg. My wife usually has to come behind me on Facebook to delete posts I throw out there on a whim and in passion. Completely. Inappropriate. Posts. At least he policed himself.

      I’m glad the photo isn’t going to be released.

      Go ARMY! Beat navy. But, yeah…I’ll give the fishes their due.

      • Eric, I respectfully and sympathetically disagree. That photo needs to be seared into every human’s brain. It must be shown that if one so egregiously violates the human compact, as OBL has done, then this shall and will be the result of such a violation. It does no good to leave it up to abstraction.

        • “sympathetically disagree” – I don’t get it. You feel bad for…disagreeing?

          We’re better than that. He’s dead. I actually believe what our President (as much as I can’t stand him) says. I think a pretty good point is made when we say, “he will never walk the earth again.”

          It is not we who video tape executions and release them as propaganda. It is not we who hang corpses on a bridge for the world to see.

          No, we’re better than that. We fast rope down helicopters right before the “French & Indiana Attack”, knock down your door….and before you have a chance to do anything – we shoot you in your f’in face.

          Then dump your body in the ocean.

          • No, I don’t feel bad for disagreeing. I sympathize with and understand your position on the release of the photos and the broader global/political reasons for not doing so and the repercussions that might result from their release. That said, I still think that at least one picture needs to be released to show the world for the historical record and as a reminder that true justice awaits those who violate the human compact.

    • Actually, Robert and I discussed it. We don’t want to overly-politicize TTAG, nor do we want to put anything up that is not completely accurate. The word “assaulter” can have a number of meanings. It’s factually correct to refer to our troops (especially Navy SEALs and SEAL Team 6) as “assault” troops. However, if you go back and actually listen to Carney’s press conference, it’s VERY clear he is not at all comfortable talking about them in the context of “we were completely justified in taking Bin Laden down like the dog he was.” Carney and many in the Obama administration have many, well-documented reservations about military action, especially action that culminates in the use of deadly force. My argument is that they choose their words carefully, and their use of the the term “assaulters” (rather than “assault troops,” “Navy SEALs” or “Counter-terrorism squad”) was either a deliberate or subliminal way for him to express his distaste for what he sees as an “over-reaction.”

      Interestingly, even the Dalai Lama (Mr. Peaceful Co-existence himself) was quoted today in the LA Times as saying there’s a time and a place where turning the other cheek is not the right idea – and that Bin Laden needed to be relieved of his Earthly burdens.

      I applaud the Obama administration for doing the right thing. I just wish they would feel better about having done it.

      • Brad, I know where you’re coming from and I know full well what the White House is all about. Sure, they’re a pretty squishy bunch of critters. Pathetic, in fact. However, I don’t really think that in this particular instance that they chose their words all that carefully, as in a calculated/triangulated sort of way. It’s just who they are and what they “feel”. Let it ride, we know who they are. I couldn’t care less about Mr. Carney’s (or any of the other federal administrator’s) comfort level with what needed to be done. It’s really beyond what they can effectively control or contain. Thank goodness. They may think that they’re calling all of the shots but the reality is that many of the shots call themselves and they’re just along for the ride whether they like it or not. Such is life, love and war.

        The Dalai Lama is a rational and intelligent man. I would expect no less a reaction from him. Of course, you’re well aware of his quote in Seattle regarding self defense.

        Though sometimes laudable, turning the other cheek usually only lends symmetry to one’s wounds.

      • The term “assaulter” isn’t used to reference some generalized term for military/SOF personnel. SEAL Team Six members, as well as Delta Force, organize their members into three groups – assaulters, breachers, marksmen.

  9. Should have brought OBL back to USA and had a pig farmer standing by with a wood chipper. Load the body in the wood chipper and broadcast the body pieces all around the hog pen where they are readily consumed by the pigs. All caught on video. Later add to the video American soldier dining on sausages.
    Make it known that will be the fate of any islamic asshole that screws with us. Eliminate any possibility of martyrdom from these assholes and they will stop. Problem solved.

    • Dude .. that’s really .. ‘effed up. Were you on the writing staff for one of the Silence of the Lambs flicks??

    • I like the way you think!! However; I agree with obama, we shouldn’t waterboard…personally I would give them free extensive dental work minus the novacaine and see how long before they spill their guts??? Torture? what torture? just look at that pretty smile!

  11. Brad Kozak says: “I’ve always wondered, if it’s true that fundamentalist Muslims really believe that they won’t get into Paradise if they’ve touched anything from a pig, why our guys don’t carry around SuperSoakers (in addition to their regular arms) filled with a cocktail of pig’s blood, pig’s urine, and whatever. Let word get around that you’ll be soaked with that before dying. See what happens.”

    That’s an utter myth and a very old one — it goes back to Black Jack Pershing in the Philippines and might be older than that. Folklore then, folklore now. If you shoot a Muslim partisan with pig blood you’ll only annoy him, and oops, he has an AK-47.

    The stuff about 72 virgins is also baloney. Right around 9/11, some mullah on 60 Minutes said “72 angels” (houri), which was was mistranslated as “virgins,” and away we went. You can see how this sort of thing naturally captures the imagination of Americans. Virgins, woo hoo!

    Actually, followers of Islam believe they will be attended by 72 angels when they go to heaven in exactly the same way Christians believe they will be issued a brass halo and a trumpet and sprout a cute pair of miniature wings. Not really. All religions contain a wide spectrum of figurative belief.

    Like all folklore, these stories reveal more about the storytellers than the story subjects — it’s more about how Americans are wired than anything to do with Islam. We badly need to believe the rest of the world is even more ignorant and superstitious than we are.

  14. Face on shot between middle of nose and lower lip, no twitching. That’s movie nonsense. I’ve seen haji with their finger on the trigger of shoulder rpg take one in lower chest. Dropped rocket and fell over. Bled out.

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